Robert was born in Westerfield, N.J. He had been a police officer with the Bernards Township Police Department in New Jersey and the patrol division commander upon retiring in 1989, after 25 years service.

He was a combat-wounded veteran of the Korean War and a survivor of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in North Korea, 1950. He served as a sergeant with the 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, and was a member of the Chosin Reservoir Association and the 1st Marine Division Association.

He is survived by his wife, Clara Gill Eberle; his son, Robert David Eberle; his sister, Barbara Clopper; three stepdaughters, Kathleen S. Devlin, Lora M. Crowley and Pamela A. Wilson; and a stepson, Thomas R. Marvel Jr.